Good morning. Showers likely today with a thunderstorm possible after 5. The high temperature will be around 69. Rain and thunderstorms should continue overnight, with a low near 50. The Washington Spirit will host Racing Louisville at Audi Field this evening. The Nationals continue their visit to t he Mets. Attention fellow Aldi fans: German Week starts today. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here. I can’t stop listening to: Alan Doyle, “Come Out With Me.” The busy Canadian lad plays the Birchmere tonight with Bandits on the Run. The show is sold out.  Take Washingtonian Today with you! I keep ridiculously long playlists on Apple Music and on Spotify of this year’s music recommendations. Here are 2025’s songs (Apple, Spotify), too. Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out: Shell is other people: The Justice Department indicted former FBI Director James Comey in North Carolina yesterday. It’s the second time the department, at President Trump‘s direction, has pursued a federal indictment of Comey, who Trump views as an enemy. (CNN) The indictment centers on a photo of shells on a beach spelling “86 47” that Comey posted on Instagram last May. The feds claim it was an incitement to violence against Trump, the 47th US President. (AP) Prosecutors will face the daunting task of proving Comey’s intent in posting a photo of shells on a beach, which he captioned “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” Comey deleted the post after Trump fans complained it was a coded message encouraging someone to kill the President. (NYT) This is the second time DOJ, at Trump’s explicit direction, has filed a flimsy indictment of Comey. A federal judge tossed the last one in November. (NPR) Comey posted a video in response, saying, “let’s go.” (New York Post) Meanwhile: The feds also filed an indictment against David Morens, a former adviser to Anthony Fauci. (Washington Post) And a judge in New York allowed a lawsuit filed by Maurene Comey, James Comey’s daughter, over her firing from the Justice Department last year, to move forward. Maurene Comey says she was fired because Trump hates her dad. (NYT) All-inclusive passport: The US State Department plans to issue passports with an image of Trump’s face over the Declaration of Independence. It’s Trump’s latest attempt—after slapping his name on the Kennedy Center and the US Institute of Peace, putting his signature on currency, announcing “Trump-class” battleships, and the US Mint’s plans to issue a $1 coin with his likeness, and that’s not even an exhaustive list—to promote himself via US government assets. (Bulwark) The State Department says it will be a limited edition—like a Sub Pop seven-inch single in the ’90s, apparently—and it “will be the only available passport for those who show up in person at the Washington Passport Agency until this limited edition runs out.” (Washington Post) King for a day: King Charles III of Great Britain spent the day in town. He addressed a joint session of Congress where he “pushed back, gently, against Mr. Trump’s attacks on Britain and on the NATO alliance for not joining in the Iran war.” Trump claimed during one unscripted moment that Charles “agrees with me” about his war. (NYT) Trump said he was “very jealous” of the monarch’s speech. (Politico) The White House posted a photo of Charles and Trump together with the caption “TWO KINGS.” (Reuters) At a state dinner for Charles and Queen Camilla last night, muckety-mucks munched on sole meunière, ramps, and flourless chocolate cakes. (Washington Post) Here’s the guest list, which included government machers, Fox News hosts, and CEOs. (NYT) Could the royals be headed to Front Royal, Virginia? (ABC7) If, so, I strongly recommend their majesties make a stop at Spelunkers. Charles doesn’t eat beef anymore, but the onion rings and frozen custard are, uh, fit for a king. Hey, remember the war? Trump has told aides “to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran,” a “new phase of sorts” for the conflict, which is essentially stalemated. (WSJ) US intelligence agencies are studying what Iran may do if Trump declares victory (which, to be fair, he’s done countless times since the war began). (Reuters) Friday will be the war’s 60th day, the deadline under the 1973 War Powers Act for the administration to seek Congress’s approval. The White House can file for an extension. (Notus) Gas prices “rose on Tuesday to their highest level in four years.” (NYT) Cue yet another poll about Trump’s approval rating, now down to 34 percent according to Reuters/Ipsos. (Reuters) Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary—whose carry-on luggage I would dearly love to measure—told a conference in Oslo that some European airlines were likely to fail if the price of jet fuel doesn’t fall. (Politico) Administration perambulation: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will testify before Congress today and tomorrow. (Military.com) The sessions will not be particularly chummy. (Punchbowl News) The FCC ordered a review of ABC’s broadcast licenses, something it claims has nothing to do with Trump’s demand that the network fire Jimmy Kimmel over a joke he didn’t like. (NYT) US Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the still-unfunded Department of Homeland Security, ordered “enhanced” vetting of people who hope to immigrate to the US. (Reuters) The Pentagon wants $52 million to rebrand itself as the “Department of War.” (Hill) Recently on Washingtonian dot com: • We sent a reporter to the Reflecting Pool to see how Trump’s plan to turn it blue was going. • DC Al Toque has opened on 14th Street, Northwest. Its owners hope to expose locals to Venezuelan food beyond arepas. Local news links: • Trump’s attorneys argued that his slapping his name on the Kennedy Center was an “acknowledgement,” not a memorial. US Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex-officio board member of the center, has sued over Trump’s aspirational rebranding of the complex, saying Congress intended it to be a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. (WUSA9) • Five people were shot in Northwest DC last night. A five-year-old boy and two adults were shot in Truxton Circle. (WTOP) Two people were shot on the 3300 block of Mount Pleasant Street, Northwest. (DC News Now) • A garbage truck T-boned a house in Lorton. No one was hurt. (WUSA9) • Leah Carlomusto of Arlington, who was hit by a bus while riding a scooter in Rosslyn earlier this month, died of her injuries. She was 45. (ARLnow) • If you like how tech companies shoehorn crappy AI features into once-useful products, change terms of service or vaporize offerings, and jack up prices randomly, you’ll love allowing them to operate robot taxis in DC, an idea that appears to be moving forward. (NBC4 Washington) • Yorktown High School grad Tanner Wall has signed with the Las Vegas Raiders. (ARLnow) • Someone paid $10.25 million for a penthouse in Reston. It’s the most anyone has ever paid for a condo in Virginia. (WBJ) • Oh great, the spotted lanternflies are back. (ARLnow) • This has been a pretty grim roundup. Cleanse your morning with this lovely Tommy McFly story about a bench near Sligo Creek dedicated to a man named Paul Gleason that has become a place where people record their hopes, goals, and reflections in a notebook stored in an attached box. (NBC4 Washington) Wednesday’s event picks: • Amy K. Bormet performs at Hillwood’s Jazz on the Lunar Lawn event. • Watch “Survivor” at DC9. • Take in a screening of “Soul” in Milian Park. See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.The post Trump Indicts Comey Again and Slaps His Face on US Passports—and an Actual King Visited DC, Too first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less